EDITORIAL: Inverness airport proposal had wings before public clipped them

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The Chronicle Herald

Published: Aug 20 at 5:02 p.m.

Updated: Aug 21 at 11:38 a.m.

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The latest revelations around a proposed airport in Inverness County have spawned more unanswered questions. - 123RF

Why was a top federal bureaucrat pushing a controversial airport proposal for Inverness in early April, only days after Cabot Links and Cabot Cliffs co-owner Ben Cowan-Dewar registered a company backing the project?

Government emails obtained by Herald reporter Aaron Beswick under freedom of information laws show Infrastructure Canada deputy minister Kelly Gillis, on April 9, directing department staff to find a suitable taxpayer-funded program for a new airport near the private golf courses on Cape Breton Island.

The documents also appear to verify what provincial officials have long maintained — that Ottawa had pressed Nova Scotia to put the Inverness airport project on its list for possible joint funding.

A June 14 Gillis email confirmed receiving Nova Scotia’s application — which she’d been expecting — and asked staff to let her know if there were “any issues.”

As it turned out, there were plenty.

The airport proposal ran into widespread pushback, including from local politicians left in the dark about the plan, those associated with Port Hawkesbury’s municipally-run airport just an hour away, tourism officials and environmentalists.

In late July, Rural Economic Development Minister Bernadette Jordan finally cancelled review of the project, saying there wasn’t enough information to show it was responding to community needs.

Proponents had earlier released a so-called study touting hundreds of jobs and millions in economic spinoffs, but refused to share details of what those rosy predictions were being based on.

Meanwhile, Cowan-Dewar says he plans to revive the proposal after this fall’s federal election.

The latest revelations have spawned more unanswered questions — including why did Gillis so aggressively push a project with no apparent business case? And why did Ottawa try to imply the project’s funding was the province’s idea?